The present invention relates to a ball and socket joint body for control cable terminals, which is generally applicable to control cables for the transmission of thrust-traction forces, which are usually known as push-pull operating cables. More particularly, the ball and socket joint body of the invention is applicable to terminals of thrust-traction control cables generally used as a means of linkage between the gearbox and its operating shift lever in automobile vehicles.
Widely known in the art are many embodiments of thrust-traction control cables which, basically consisting in a sheathed steel cable, are extensively used in the automobile industry as an articulated means of linkage between an actuating control and its associated mechanism. Such control cables are provided at one of their ends with a terminal which, when coupled to the corresponding actuating control, forms a ball articulation or ball and socket joint. Essentially, said articulation comprises a ball and socket body and a ball, in which the ball and socket body constituting the terminal is fixed to the corresponding end of the steel cable of the control cable by means of a rigid linking piece, such as an axially mounted metal rod, while the ball is fixed to the actuating control. The ball and socket body comprises a housing designed to receive the ball with a close fit and in such a way that once the ball and socket body and the ball are coupled together, the control cable is able to transmit thrust-traction forces along its axis for any of the actuating control positions habitually used.
In the known embodiments of ball and socket joint bodies such as those described above, the means for coupling of the ball and socket joint body with the ball consist, in summary, of a single opening made in the ball and socket joint body to permit the insertion by pressure of the ball into a spherical housing. In general, said coupling arrangement constitutes a clear disadvantage, in that coupling of the control cable with its corresponding actuating mechanism calls for prior positioning of the ball and socket joint body of the cable with respect to the ball. This disadvantage is accentuated in those cases in which the actuating control is formed by the gearbox gear shift lever; in this case, the positioning of the ball and socket joint body of the terminal of the control cable is generally only possible by rotating the control cable about itself, which given the usual scale of said control cables, together with the difficulty of access to the ball of the lever, constitutes an operation by no means devoid of difficulties and requiring in any case an execution time which increases fitting costs.